Well, not officially. But the actor is in negotiations to play the lead role in Clint Eastwood and Warner Bros.' biopic about Capt. Chelsey B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, the veteran pilot who safely landed a disabled jetliner on the Hudson River in 2009, the Los Angeles Times has confirmed. Deadline Hollywood first reported the news.

Hanks is, of course, one of the big screen's most dependable everyman heroes, and during his long career he's guided just about every endangered mode of transport there is to safety.

He steered the damaged spacecraft of "Apollo 13" back to Earth as astronaut Jim Lovell and kept his cool as Richard Phillips in "Captain Phillips," whose cargo ship was hijacked by Somali pirates. Even in animated form, Hanks conducted the "Polar Express" through a gantlet of icy dangers.

It's hard to argue with a resume like that.

Warner Bros. announced the Sully movie, which does not yet have a title, earlier this month. Eastwood will direct from a script by Todd Komarnicki, based on the book "Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters," by Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow.

The "American Sniper" filmmaker is set to direct Warner Bros'. to-be-titled biopic about Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, the veteran pilot who safely landed a disabled jetliner on the Hudson River in 2009, the studio announced...

The "American Sniper" filmmaker is set to direct Warner Bros'. to-be-titled biopic about Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, the veteran pilot who safely landed a disabled jetliner on the Hudson River in 2009, the studio announced...

(Oliver Gettell)

Hanks will next be seen on the big screen in Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller "Bridge of Spies."